The Barghest of Busky Dike Lane – Fewston

Busky-Dyke, the Busky-Dyke,
Ah! tread its path with care,
With silent step haste through its shade,
For “Bargest” wanders there!

  In his ‘Yorkshire Legends and Traditions‘ (written in the late 1800’s) the Rev Thomas Parkinson mentions the Barghest of Busky Dike Lane – just to the west of Fewston village, 7 miles to the west of Harrogate.

  The Barghest was a supernatural creature capable of assuming different forms, but often appearing as a very large and menacing black dog with glowing eyes. The rev. Parkinson had spent his childhood at Crag Hall near Fewston, so he would have heard tales of local ghosts and spirits, but by the time he came to publish his book in 1888, the tradition of the Fewston Barghest had faded, and the area changed dramatically with the building of a reservoir in the Washburn valley.

Lastingham Church Scrapes

  The village of Lastingham is located on the southern edge of the North York Moors – 18 miles to the west of Scarborough.

  Lastingham is the site of an early Celtic monastery established in the 7th century by monks from Lindisfarne. At that time the area was quite wild and remote, providing the isolation required for a spiritual life away from worldly temptations. The monastery remained an important religious site through the Anglo Scandinavian period, with the monastic church rebuilt and extended several times to form the church we see today.

  Lastingham is one of the few churches in the country to have a subterranean crypt, which can now be accessed by steps descending from the church above. This crypt dates to just after the Norman conquest, and was built on the site of an earlier church and burial place of Saint Cedd – the founding monk from Lindisfarne.

The Ghaistrills Strid – Grassington

  The Ghaistrills Strid is a section of the river Wharfe, 3/4 of a mile to the north west of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales.

  The Ghaistrills were mentioned in a previous post about the Ghost of Tom Lee, who was hanged in 1768 for the murder of Dr Petty – the local doctor in Grassington. Tom Lees body was hung in chains by the road side in Grass wood to the west of Grassington, and later his gibbet irons (and perhaps the remains of his skeleton) were thrown into a deep part of the river at the Ghaistrills.

Not another Rocking Stone? – Hebden Gill

  The village of Hebden is located 1.5 miles to the east of Grassington, in the Yorkshire Dales.

  To the north of the village, Hebden Beck flows along a scenic valley which winds its way down from the hills and higher moorland areas. Part way along the valley, the OS map marks a Rocking Stone perched high up on top of a crag on the east side of the beck. A visit in April 2023 found the large block of stone overhanging the crag, but it was not possible to make it rock.

  In the late 1800’s, Bailey John Harker mentioned the Hebden Rocking Stone in his guide to the area, but even in his day it seems that the stone was not easy to move. Describing the location, he noted that …

“Here everything is in confusion, the rocks being scattered in wildest fashion everywhere in the valley, while away up to the right on the top of the scar, is seen a monstre block, which appears as if the hand of a child might send it crashing into the depths below. This is the Rocking Stone. Its weight is calculated to be 70 tons; but at present it is not so easily moved as formerly. The curious like to climb up to it and examine it; but there are no markings upon it to indicate that it has ever had any Druidical connection.” (Harker, 1890)

The Ghost of Tom Lee – Grassington

  250 years ago a brutal murder took place on a quiet lane near the village of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales. Many years may have passed since the killing took place, but the crime still linger in the folklore of the area.

  The murderer’s name was Tom Lee, – a lead miner and inn keeper of the Blue Anchor in Grassington. In 1768 Lee was put on trial and hanged for the murder of Richard Petty, the local doctor. One version of the story leading up to the murder relates how Tom Lee was shot while trying to commit a robbery. His injuries were so serious that he had no choice but to call the doctor, who soon realised what Lee had been up to. Lee feared that doctor Petty would turn him in, and so to keep him quiet he decided to kill him. The other version of the story has both men attending a cock fight in Kettlewell, where the doctor won a large sum of money betting on the fights. The two men rode back to Grassington, stopping at the inns along the way, until, as they approached Grassington, Tom Lee killed the doctor and took his money. There is probably some truth in both versions.